Ink jet printheads are commonly used in various printing devices, in which the ink jet printheads are generally mounted on a print carriage that is movable with respect to a print line. An example of these printheads is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,115. In particular, each printhead is provided with a tank which is filled with ink and which becomes empty in consequence of emission of droplets of ink from nozzles of the printhead.
In order to increase the operative life of printheads, the latter are refilled several times by filling up their tank with fresh ink. Normally refilling is performed by means of a cartridge containing ink and by transferring the ink from the cartridge into the tank of the printhead through a refill hole which is generally disposed on an outer surface of the printhead, usually opposite the side on which the nozzles are provided.
It is known a holder adapted for facilitating refilling of ink jet printheads, which comprises a box in which the printhead is housed and a cover which is removably mounted on a top of the box. The cover is provided with a tube which, when the cover is mounted on the top of the box, is positioned with respect to the printhead housed into the box, so that an end of the tube enters into the refill hole of the printhead and another end of the tube is disposed towards the outside of the holder for being coupled with the cartridge and so reaching the ink contained in the same cartridge. In this manner, the tank of the printhead is put in communication with the ink contained in the cartridge, for causing the ink to pass through the tube from the cartridge to the tank, so as to refill the printhead.
In this known holder the cover is separate from the box and, therefore, the cover is completely removed from the box each time the printhead has to be housed inside the holder for being refilled.
Consequently, this holder is uncomfortable to use and requires a certain manual skill in mounting and correctly positioning the cover on the box for precisely positioning the tube with respect to the refill hole of the printhead housed in the box.